Mistral Computer Systems Ltd, Bracknell, Berkshire, the company that rose from the ashes of UK workstation pioneer Whitechapel Workstations with the launch of the Mistral-20 workstation based upon MIPS Computer Systems’ R3000 RISC processor last year, is to continue the strategy begun with Whitechapel’s R2000-based Hitech-10 and is planning development of a new workstation using MIPS’ next CMOS offering, the R4000. At the same time Mistral is moving away from dependence on Konstanz, West German firm Itos Computer GmbH – formerly known as ComputerTechnik Mller – which manufactured Whitechapel’s Hitech-10, and was originally mooted at the builder of the Mistral-20. It says all manufacturing of the Mistral-20 is being carried out by an undisclosed UK contract manufacturer, and that it also aims to get production of the Hitech-10 shifted back to the UK. Mistral has been keeping a low profile since the launch of the Mistral-20 because it is still digesting the business of Amazon Computers, Milton Keynes, which it acquired at the same time, according to a spokesman. Mistral also distributes Princeton Graphics’ range of X-terminals, and says that former Amazon offices in Paris and Frankfurt will soon begin selling its workstations and the X Window products. For its part, the West German personal computer and workstation builder is now standing at the gates of the East, having moved part of its manufacturing operations to Berlin. By October it expects the operation to be capable of producing 60,000 units a year – personal computers and RISC workstations – and it will also include a development and service division. The incentive to move eastwards was spurred back in July, when Itos received an order worth over $6m to supply 18 hospitals in the Zwickau, East Germany region with 80286- and 80386-based microcomputers (CI No 1,488).
